Kennedy Essay

“One small step for man, one giant step for mankind.” As a nation, we view getting a man on the moon as one of our greatest accomplishments. But, we did not achieve this easily. There was a great effort needed for the space effort to even be taken seriously. The people of America did not even give it a great deal of thought until September 12, 1962 during a speech given at Rice University, when then President John F. Kennedy made a promise to America that there will be a man on the moon. Furthermore, the speech Kennedy gives makes it clear to the people of America that Kennedy is a big advocate for the Space Effort and will devote whatever resources necessary to fill his promise.

“We chose to go to the moon in this decade and do other things not because they are easy, but because they are hard.” Directly spoken by John F. Kennedy during his speech at Rice University, Kennedy viewed getting a man to the moon as a challenge that America could accomplish. With the successes of the Soviet Union and the failures of the United States regarding space exploration, in his rearview, Kennedy strives to work harder to attain something big for America. He wouldn’t rest, only move forward to have a man on the moon. “This country of the United States was not built by those who waited and rested and wished to look behind them. This country was conquered by those who moved forward- and so will space.” (Kennedy)

Space exploration had many benefits, which may be why so many people supported the space effort and Kennedy’s position on it. It provided technological benefits like transit satellites that help ships at sea steer a safer course. New tools and computers are also becoming available for industries, medicine and even schools. Which brings us to the educational benefits that the space effort brought. With the plethora of information that is received from space our science departments and schools with be enriched with new information to learn.